


Crash + Head Injury

by Kingrey



Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: Cold Weather, Gen, Head Injury, Hurt/Comfort, I Don't Even Know, Unreliable Narrator
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-04
Updated: 2019-01-04
Packaged: 2019-10-03 21:42:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,808
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17291960
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kingrey/pseuds/Kingrey
Summary: At this point, Mac should know that when a mission ends without going completely off the rails, it simply means that there is something else coming to bite them in the ass.Or the story of how Jack and Mac survived their exfill crashing, through the eyes of a very concussed Angus Macgyver.





	Crash + Head Injury

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! It's been a while!
> 
> This story is all over the place to be honest, I didn't expect it to be so long? I mean, it's not really really long but at first I wasn't even sure it was going to be more than 1k.  
> So uh... Enjoy! See you in the end note!

“I am _never_ doing this again, you hear me?” Jack screamed over the deafening sound of the rotor blades of the helicopter.

Completely out of breathe, Mac settled for a relieved chuckle while awkwardly buckling himself in. They could still hear the distant noise from the gunshots, but it was dying down the further away they were. Both him and Jack were exhausted from their frantic race out of the building followed by very angry henchmen. Fortunately, they got flash drive they were supposed to steal and even more evidence on these guys than they were originally sent for. All in all, it wasn't their most difficult mission, even though Jack's loud complaining could make it seem so.

“I'm too old for this shit man, I tell you, my heart could have failed me!”  
“Hey, where is the young and healthy man that you usually insist to be?” laughed Mac.  
“He _died_ Mac” Jack insisted dramatically. “He died past the ten minutes mark of this awful run after he told me to go on without him and, if possible, to retire in his honor.”  
“We'll make a perfect eulogy for him, don't worry.”

Mac closed his eyes, still taking deep breaths. His madly beating heart was finally slowing down and they were far away enough to not be able to hear gunshots anymore. He took a glance outside and it was always striking to see a peaceful, snowy landscape when they just escaped a life or death situation. All the trees covered by a thin layer of snow were very beautiful and Christmas-y, Mac thought.

“Everyone okay?” asked the pilot of the chopper, interrupting Mac's thoughts. “There's a first aid kit under the right seat if you need it.”  
“We're fine, thanks to you” Mac answered gratefully. “If you didn't wait those extra ten minutes, I don't know what would have happened to us”  
“Ah, no worries. Plus, you guys have quite a reputation, you would have found a way without the exfil”  
“Well, thank fuck we didn’t have to try that way ‘cause it's freezing outside” Jack snorted before glaring at Mac. “Sure you're fine bud?”

The blond raised his hands in a placating gesture, still in high spirits which quenched any irritation toward Jack's mother-henning. He was, for once, pretty much fine.

“I swear I'm alright Jack, except for one or two bruises maybe but that's all.”  
The older man's silence was a little anxiety-inducing but he soon shaked his head in dismay, shattering the tension. “Angus Macgyver telling the truth about his health, what has the world become?”  
“Don't spit in the face of an early Christmas gift” laughed the pilot as Mac sputtered indignantly (but with no real heat behind his protests).

It could have stayed like that. A great outcome to a great mission that had required just the right amount of improvisations and had left them with little to no injury. They would be home and well for Christmas with a new story to tell. Sadly, this was not to be. All of the sudden, an alarm blared in the chopper, while the pilot seemed to have lost control of the apparel.

“What's happening?!” yelled Jack.  
“I don't know! There's something wrong with the motor!” answered the pilot, while frantically pushing buttons on the dashboard.  
“Maybe one of the bullet damaged it” shouted Mac while getting out of his seat.

He ignored Jack's call to stay put and tried to get to the engine. They were nearer to the ground than he thought, probably thanks to the pilot trying to land them, but it was still quite a way down. _Maybe if I could just repair…_ Before getting close enough to the motor, he was thrown to the side when the chopper suddenly spiraled on itself. He felt a hand grab his ankle awkwardly before his head was slammed hard against metal. Everything around him was hidden by black spots in his vision and his sensations were mostly flash.

Something warm was hugging him.  
He smelt Jack’s unique blend of aftershave, sweat and gunpowder.  
His left arm hurt.  
He was falling and then, everything went black.

\-----

The first thing Mac felt was cold, everywhere around him. His entire body was freezing and, he didn't know why, but he was sure that it was a blessing in disguise.

“-ac!”

The more he thought about it, the more he started to feel the different hurts of his body. His head especially was pulsating in rhythm with his heart, and each beat was worse than the precedent. It was spreading through his body, and suddenly he wished to be asleep again.

“Mac!”

A voice was calling him. He needed to wake up, for sure, but he was so tired. He moaned feebly, wanting to call for Jack but unable to do so. He was so cold it hurt. However his left arm was burning… It was weird. He needed to… To… He didn’t remember.

“MAC!”

Suddenly, his right cheek burnt. Someone had hit him? He needed to… Open his eyes. Right. It felt like an Herculean task but Mac finally managed to get both his eyes open. In front of him, a blurred and red silhouette was hiding the sky.

“Thank god kid, that's great, keep those eyes open” the silhouette babbled, its warm hand resting on Mac's face. It was comfortable. Mac wanted to sleep.  
“Hey, hey, no, none of that! Open your eyes Mac, I need you awake and alert.”  
“Mmh… J’ck?” Mac mumbled, hoping he was the silhouette.  
“Yeah that's me. God you took a hard hit kid, don't scare me like that.”

Jack's hands were warm. That was great. But he seemed frightened to the core, and that wasn't so great. Mac tried to frown and immediately regretted it after his exploded with pain. Maybe he lost a minute or two, because Jack was calling his name again.

“You… You hit me. Jus’ now…” Mac slurred out.  
“I did, sorry bud, but I need you to put my dislocated knee back in place, so I can walk on it and get us out of here”

It was a lot of information. The blob of Jack that Mac could distinguish seemed worried enough but the blond kind of forgot the whole sentence after it was said. The fact that blob Jack looked ready to slap him again told him that he was taking too much time to answer but he didn’t… Ah yes the knee!

“You should… Uh… Call 911...”  
“That's… An idea” Blob-Jack answered slowly. “But we’re in the middle of nowhere, with only snow in sight so I don’t think 911 is an option. Oh and, if it wasn’t enough, your phone is broken and you used mine an hour ago to build a weird bomb, so no Matty either!” he commented a little hysterically.

Mac's eyes were burning. Everything was too bright, Jack was too loud and he wanted to puke. Shit, he wanted to puke. Something must have shown in his face because as delicately as he could, Jack helped him get in a better position to vomit. It was mostly acid, but his head did not appreciate it and for what seemed an eternity, he was in pure agony. When it was finally over, Mac felt Jack’s hand carding gently through his hair.

“Kid, I really need you to put my knee back” the agent whispered kindly.  
“I'll… I can't... I'll damage it more…”  
“I can't do it myself or I'll be sure to do it wrong. I trust you to do the best job you can Mac.”

The blond took a deep breath and, with Jack's help, he sat up. The world was spinning around him but he overrode the desire to lie down again and took a look at Jack's leg. It was indeed weird looking, not completely bent in the wrong direction as a broken bone would be but still. If Mac did a bad job, not only would Jack probably not be able to walk on it and get them out of here, but it could put an end to his career as an agent. That was… Stressful, no doubt about it.

Mac tried to position himself properly, while swallowing nervously to quell the slowly rising nausea. His left arm hurt, but it wasn't bad enough that he could not move it. He felt along the knee with as much gentleness as he could manage and dismissed Jack's sharp intake of breath. Mac was too hot and to cold at the same time. Thankfully, his hands weren't shaking but his vision was going in and out of focus. It was like being underwater. And Mac was wet. Because of the snow? Or was he underwater for real? But how could he… The knee. Jack's knee. He needed to focus.

“Alright” he muttered, jittery. “Alright. On three…”

Jack was tense, but disciplined. Mac didn’t pop it back like he would a shoulder, so it was a delicate and stressful ten seconds of gently manoeuvring the joint back in place. Both Jack and Mac breathed out in relief when it was over and collapsed in the snow.

Mac's ears were roaring. He thinks he heard Jack thanking him, but his head was pounding, the world was swirling and his vision was darkening. Jack called his name, maybe, but Mac passed out before he could answer.

\-----

The world was moving. Like a horse? That was weird. Mac squeezed his already closed eyes tighter before gathering up the bravery to open them. Everything around him was white and cold and wet. And he could see what he assumed to be Jack's butt. _Nice_. At least, the mystery of the moving horse-world was solved.

“J'ck?” he called out, his voice nothing but a pitiful croak.

The older man had apparently heard him, because he stopped in his tracks and got Mac down from his shoulder, helping him sit by a near tree. There was blood on Jack's face, not a lot, but enough to be worried, and he seemed a bit wobbly. Once Mac was sat down, Jack collapsed by his side, instead of just crouching down.

“You ‘k?” Mac asked, worried.  
“As fine as I can be. And you, kid? You took a hard hit, how's your head?”

Jack's voice was low and concerned. Mac wanted to frown but he instinctively knew it was a bad idea.

“I think… ‘got hit everywhere…” he finally mumbled after some reflection.

Jack laughed and that was a great thing, so Mac smiled in answer, even if he didn't know exactly what was funny. It felt like his brain was stuck on a loop, unable to understand anything else than the cold and the hurt and Jack being here.

“Yeah, you kinda got hit everywhere bud” Jack snorted out. “You're concussed as hell and I'm probably fucking up my knee forever without even knowing if it’s gonna be worth it and we're gonna be able to locate the chopper.” he bit out, progressively spiralling down as he talked. “And maybe the chopper will be destroyed anyway and we'll have no way to contact the team and we'll be lost waiting forever for backup that will probably never find us in this **_fucking forest_**!”

The last words had been yelled and echoed back to them. Mac's head was spinning trying to follow Jack's words so he focused on the one that alarmed him the most.

“Wha… What's wrong with y'r knee?”

Jack snorted and put his head in his hands, looking more tired than Mac had seen him in a long time. Again, the blond didn't know what was funny in what he said, but apparently neither did Jack. The agent looked closer to crying than to laughing again.

“Nothing important kid” Jack finally whispered, looking with concern at Mac's eyes. His lids were heavy but he knew that if he fell asleep right now, Jack would be even more worried. “C'mere” the ex-delta said, before engulfing Mac in an awkward hug.

It was weird because Jack and him didn't hug that often, and never for no reason, but his partner was warm so Mac didn’t complain. Maybe the reason was warmth? Jack was holding him tightly, as if afraid Mac would disappear. But even if he wanted, Mac didn't think he could get up on his own so Jack worried for nothing. The blond closed his eyes and smelled Jack's unique blend of aftershave, sweat and gunpowder. It oddly reminded him of pain and falling, falling, falling… He didn’t want to think about it.

“We're gonna be okay” Jack stated with certainty. Mac hummed. “My knee will be alright and, after we put your head back in its place, you will still be my anxiety-inducing genius of a partner.” Mac hummed again, not understanding it all but wanting to placate Jack's worries. He was so, so tired. His head, no his entire body hurt. The idea that he thankfully didn't have anything _else_ to puke popped in his head, but he didn't remember puking for the first time so, he didn't really know where it was coming from.

Mac didn't want to sleep. He wanted to help Jack who was clearly injured and tired and worried. He wanted to have his partner’s back. But even with his eyes open, all he could see was black. He lost (once again?) the battle and fell unconscious, worried about leaving Jack alone.

\-----

When Mac opened his eyes, he was lying alone on the ground and it was dark outside. Well, not completely, it wasn't the middle of the night, but since it was winter, it was probably around 6 pm. Mac groaned, the different aches of his body making themselves known gradually. His head and his left arm throbbed painfully and he was really cold and wet. He tried to move and realised, thanks to the crackling sound that accompanied his motion, that he was covered by an emergency blanket. Nonplussed, he slowly turned his head to the right, disregarding the ever-growing desire to vomit.

Twenty meters away, the “carcass” of a broken chopper was emitting a thick, black smoke. Even at that distance, Mac could smell the leaking fioul. What happened…? Mac couldn't remember. The chopper, the snow… _Jack_. Mac gasped as some memories of alarms and falling and Jack's worried face came back to him. Where was Jack?

Discarding the blanket, Mac tried to get up and fell down immediately when he used his bad arm as support. However, his concern for Jack helped him get past the pain. He was a bit unbalanced but he was up, so he considered it a win. He quickly made his way to the helicopter (well, as quickly as he could so… More like a quick grandpa?) while calling for Jack.

“Hey hey hey! What're you doing up?” his partner yelled, while extracting himself from wreck.

Mac let out a relieved sigh and allowed Jack to put an arm around his waist to keep himself up. Now that the adrenaline rush had past, Mac realised how shaky he was. But, well, Jack didn't look too good himself so…

“Where are we? What…?”  
“Oh yeah, your brain is still pretty much scrambled” Jack joked, a little nervously while taking Mac to sit back near the emergency blanket he left behind. “The chopper crashed. Well, we jumped before it actually crashed and managed to stay alive thanks to my ability to equip myself quickly with a parachute while keeping a tight grip on my nearly unconscious partner but uh… Yeah. That's the gist of it.”

Mac's head still hurt but what Jack said was bringing memories back up. Trying to sort the different sensations and flashes was akin to moving through mud. Mac remembered a smile, and a nice-sounding voice talking about a first-aid kit.

“What happened to the… The pilot?” Mac asked. Jack's somber expression answered before he could even find word.  
“I’m sorry kid” his partner whispered, eyes full of emotion. “I don't think he had the time to extract himself. He helped us get closer to the ground but…”

Jack couldn't seem to find the words. There was a weight in Mac's throat that prevented him from forming any kind of response. He barely remembered the man who saved his life twice in less than an hour. He didn’t get a proper look at him. His voice had been distorted by the noise of the chopper. He… He…

“I don't… His name” the blond breathed out, “I didn't even ask for his name.”

Jack said nothing. There was nothing to say. He put the emergency blanket over them both, trying to preserve some warmth but Mac's shivers weren't entirely due to the ambient cold. He couldn't believe he didn’t know the name of the man who saved him. That thought was swirling in his mind, wreaking more havoc with each of its round.

“We'll ask.” Jack suddenly said, his voice determined. “We'll ask for his name and for a picture and we'll make sure he is honoured as he should be. It'll be okay bud, I swear”

Mac smiled. Well he tried to. There wasn’t much conviction in it, but it was there nonetheless. His head hurt. Silence lingered between them but maybe it was because Mac kept closing his eyes. Jack checked his head and his arm at some point - he remembered because that seriously hurt, but he tried to keep his composure, if only to reassure Jack.

Mac kept drifting off. At some point, Jack was laying down against him, asleep. The blond was careful not to wake his partner, who maybe had an even rougher day (after all, Mac spent most of his afternoon unconscious) and went back to sleep. Another time, he woke up with Jack whispering apologies as he took Mac in his arm to move him, bridal style. The sky was telling him it was still very early. Mac wasn’t completely there, so he didn't get much of what Jack was saying but he smiled and Jack smiled and that was enough.

“S’cold” he whispered after some time. He didn't feel as if he had lost much time, but the sun was high in the sky and they were in a completely different spot. Jack was near him, fiddling with something that he probably found in the helicopter. He smiled, but he looked bone-tired so it kind of fell flat.  
“I know kid, I know.” He sighed heavily, whispered something that sounded like fuck it to Mac's ringing ears and showed the black device in his hands. “Say, do you think you brain can still function enough to repair a radio?”

Mac frowned, trying to distinguish the honestly blurry apparel in Jack's hand. He got up on his right elbow (and he thought not to use his hurting arm! Yay team!) while Jack helped him sit down. He was still nauseous and felt as if his whole body was numb because of the cold, but he could manage to repair a radio.

“I think its biggest problem is the cold” Jack declared as he helped Mac open the casing. “I found it on the ground, under some snow like, five meters away from the chopper. I mean, I was thankful, ‘cause the other one I found was busted, but it couldn't have been good for it”  
“Yeah, you’re probably right, but if that's the case there's not much I can do” Mac mumbled while looking at the wires. “But it doesn't… Ah!”  
“Ah what?” Jack answered quickly.  
“It's not the cold!” Mac couldn't help but smile with excitation. “Let me reconnect this wire and… Voilà!”

Jack laughed and engulfed Mac in a bear hug. Mac felt as if his brain was knocking around in his skull but said nothing, not wanting to dampen the mood. The ex-delta found by memory the right frequency and they both held their breath for the second it took to work. Matty's voice, as angry as her tone was, sounded like an angel.

“Look, I don't know who you are, but to use…”  
“Hey, hey, Matty calm down” Jack laughed. “It's us!”  
“Jesus Dalton” she sighed, obviously trying to keep her tone stern but even the distortion of the radio couldn't hide her joy. “Where _are_ you guys? You completely disappeared from our radars for nearly 24 hours!”  
“That’s a long story to be honest”

Mac smiled through the exchange and leaned on Jack. He didn’t talk much during Jack's recount of the events, because for most of it he was as surprised as Matty, Riley and Bozer (whose voices chimed in from time to time).

“The chopper exploded?” he muttered at one particular point of Jack’s story.  
Jack raised an eyebrow at him. “Yeah, I guess you weren't exactly firing on all cylinders but it was early this morning. That's why we moved, remember?”

Mac hummed thoughtfully. This explained that, he guessed. Jack checked the back of his head once again, probing the wound area painfully. Once it was over, Mac burrowed himself deeper in Jack's hug. He was exhausted. He didn't know if he had the right to sleep, but it wouldn’t be the first time since the crash he did it, so he just let himself be lulled to sleep by the voices of his friends and Jack's warmth.

\-----

When Mac woke up, again, he was in an empty hospital room, his sole companion being the constant beeping of the heart monitor. The blond wasn't used to waking up alone in hospitals because, most of the time, Jack was hovering around him nervously. And if that wasn't the case, he made sure Riley, or Bozer, or even Jill in the most desperate situations were there to keep him company.

Discombobulated and, honestly, a little worried, Mac resisted the urge to sit up while he didn’t know the extent of his head injury and pushed the button to call a nurse (he wasn’t as bad as a patient as everyone seemed to think, alright, he just didn't like to sit still and do nothing for too long). Not even a minute later, a middle aged black woman appeared. She smiled when she saw he was awake.

“Well, I'm happy to see those beautiful blue eyes open honey, we've been waiting for them for a long time. I'm Rosa” she said, while checking his vitals.  
“Wh't day is it?” Mac croaked out, his voice sore from disuse.  
“Friday. It's been five day since you were admitted, you gave your friend quite a scare. Water?” Mac nodded eagerly, so she helped him drink a little. “You choose the worst time to wake up honestly, your friend Jack is gonna be pissed” she added.  
“Why? What happened?”  
“He wouldn’t leave your side ever since you've been admitted. A head wound is a delicate thing, and yours was a bad one, so some complications weren't out of the ordinary but it is still very dangerous and he was worried sick” she said, while checking the bandages on his left arm. “Your other friends forced him to rest from time to time thankfully, because I was ready to sedate him. And he was smart enough not to put too much stress on his healing knee, or else I would have punched him right in the face, honestly.”

She winked and Mac smiled, knowing he would probably had been as difficult if the role were reversed. Jack and him shared their stubbornness when it was about the concern they had for the other.

“The only reason he isn't here right now is because it is the funeral of the man who died on your mission, if I understood correctly. Oh, honey, no” she immediately said when she saw Mac's reaction. “It's not your fault you can't be there, you needed to heal.”  
“But I wanted…” Mac's voice broke and he was afraid he was going to cry right here and then. “He saved my life and I'm not even…”  
“Listen Angus. Mac? Jack said you preferred Mac, so listen Mac” Rosa said, taking his hand in hers. “Jack left your side because he knew how important it was for you to participate, even if you were still unconscious. That won't stop you for honouring this man later, when you're healthy and capable of it, but for now, trust Jack to say the right thing and trust me when I say that the man who saved you wouldn't have wanted you to risk the precious life he protected.”

Mac's throat was tight with emotion, but he nodded.

“Thanks Rosa” he whispered.  
“You must find this weird” she smiled, while she checked his IV. “I mean, ten minutes after you wake up, a nurse you barely know give you a speech about not feeling guilty? I totally blame Jack. You're due for another dose of pain medicine by the way.”

Mac didn't really like drugs, even medical ones, but his head was aching pretty bad already so he nodded. He saw Rosa inject it in the IV with practiced ease.

“Why Jack?” he murmured, already feeling sleepy.  
“He kept telling me story about you and your adventures when he couldn't sleep, even if I think most of it was censored. He also kept worrying that you would feel guilty for not going to the funeral because, and I quote, _‘Mac's superpower is actually to feel guilty over every little things he has absolutely no control of, except if he is God and I know for a fact that he isn't’_. I think there was also a swear word in there, but I won't repeat it.” She laughed a little and corrected the position of his blanket. “Since he isn't there right now, I just wanted to nip this feeling in the bud, and I'm sure he will do the rest.”

Mac was oddly touched both by Rosa's desire to take care of him even if she didn't know him and by Jack's overwhelming concern. It wouldn't completely stop the guilt but logically, he knew they were right and that helped, a lot. He fell asleep thinking about thanking Jack for all he've done.

\-----

“I swear Mac, after this week I think I won't want to look at you sleeping for at least a entire month”

Jack's grumbling was the first thing Mac heard waking up. He smiled at the older man, careful not to move much his head which was still hurting. It was the evening of the same day, so Mac didn't sleep that long. As much as he wanted to look annoyed, Jack couldn't keep a smile off his face.

“I can't believe you woke up during the only afternoon I wasn't there, you asshole” he joked.  
“I personally think that my timing was impeccable” Mac muttered playfully, before eyeing with concern Jack's ‘chair’. “A wheelchair?”  
“Yeah well I can theoretically walk with crutches but I think Matty and Rosa would amputate me if I tried. You've met Rosa, right? Scary woman. Her, Matty, Riley and Leana are a frankly terrific combination you do **_not_** want to see in action.”

Jack seemed to shiver with terror and Mac burst out laughing, soon joined by his partner. Maybe it was the stress, or the joy of being reunited but at least it was relaxing to laugh about something. They calmed down and Jack took Mac's hand in his.

“His name was Antoní Mora” he stated in a somber tone. “He was 44 years old, had a wife but no children. I spoke with most of his family, especially his parents and, thought they are grieving, they're not… Mad. Not in the slightest. When you are up to it, they said they would like to meet you too.”  
“... Thank you” Mac breathed out, eyes probably misty, “for… Everything, really.”  
“You know it's no problem kid. You scared me back there.”

Mac didn't remember it all, but if one thing that was constant in his memories, it was Jack's worrying constantly about his injuries. Jack frowning at him and checking his wounds and moving him to safety time and time again. Jack hugging him and keeping him warm and adjusting an emergency blanket around him with more care than when dealing with a bomb. Just… Jack, being here for him when he couldn't reciprocate, Jack saving his life and keeping him safe as always.

“I love you” Mac whispered, tightening his hold on Jack's hand and hoping he would understand all the emotions behind these words.  
“Love you too, kid” his partner answered, his eyes reassuring Mac that of course he understood all that couldn't be said.

Because no matter what happened, no matter if Jack and Mac went kaboom together, they always were there to help the other heal.

**Author's Note:**

> This end was... Cheesy to say the least, but I didn't know how to end this monster. Hope you liked it anyway!
> 
> As I said earlier, it kinda goes everywhere but... Mac!whump so yay! Ahah sorry I'm tired I really don't know what to say.
> 
> Oh uh, I'm sorry if didn’t respond to some comments on other stories, I have very little time for myself because of my studies and uh... That's not really an excuse but know that I read them all and that I love them all, it's just that I want to be comfortable and focused to answer with a good English and I never seem to find a moment when that's possible...
> 
> As always, here are some questions if you don't know what to comment, feel free to ignore them if you want!
> 
> \- What did you think about the secondary original characters? Were they too much? (I think it helped me get the story where I wanted, like showing why this mission was affecting them differently than the others they probably went through but I still want your opinion)
> 
> \- What are your thoughts about concussed Mac? I really liked writing him but I was worried that it was getting a little repetitive? I don't knoooow
> 
> \- Is the story too long??
> 
> Well that's it for me for now, hope you enjoyed this story! And happy holidays, even if it is a little late, hope you had a great time or, if like me it kinda sucked, hope you can get comfort from fanfictions as I do!
> 
> Love you!


End file.
